MASSILLON, Ohio — Corrections officers from Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility in Stark County are shedding more light on the situation Saturday, when 12 youth inmates got out of their rooms and barricaded themselves in a school building armed with makeshift weapons.
"They feel like there's no limits to what they're allowed to do, like there will be no consequence," said one corrections officer who wanted to remain anonymous to protect his job.
The anonymous officer was working Saturday during the incident and said while the violence has always been a problem, this was by far the worst situation he has witnessed in over ten years at the facility.
"I don't feel safe for myself, and I don't feel safe for the 90% of the kids that want to do their time and go home, that are actively engaged in the treatment programs that we offer whether it be their education, substance abuse treatment, sex offender treatment," he said.
Another corrections officer who also wanted to remain anonymous was back at work on Monday and said the facility looked a lot different.
"There was only one kid out at a time. It was run like a prison and that's different, it's amazing how quiet it can be," the corrections officer said.
He said the state brought in a special response team to help out with staffing issues following the incident. This guard has been there for nearly 17 years and has seen this move before, and what happens when they leave.
"Then you pull them out and you put us back in there without any different tools, any different possibilities of what to do and it'll go right back to where it is, so they've got to make policy changes," he said.
The guard told 3News the special response teams are able to carry pepper spray, but the guards are not, unless there is a riot situation when they can have shields.
"We don’t have any weapons, no pepper spray, no nothing. Just hands," he said.
Both guards told 3News the majority of the youth inmates do not want trouble, but the handful that do are hurting the rest.
"It's really kind of sad, because there's a whole lot of other guys in the building that aren't going to be able to be in that school building for quite some time until things are put back in order," one guard said.
The calls for change echo from multiple corrections officers that have reached out to 3News. They said this could have been avoided if the higher ups addressed the ongoing staffing shortage, made safety a priority and changed policies to hold youth inmates accountable, instead of the hands off approach they said is currently in use.
"The kids know you can't do nothing to them and once you embolden a kid to realize they can attack a staff [member], they can destroy something and nothing's going to happen to them, they get more embolden and things go further and further out of control like they have been," one of the officers told 3News.
The guard said there is an incident at Indian River almost every day. He said the majority of all the corrections officers working the housing unit have been assaulted in one way or another while on the job, having urine or feces thrown at them, for example, in addition to being spit on or smacked.
This is the third incident reported in the last week, including one involving a guard who was brutally beaten Tuesday night. 3News spoke to the guard's wife and she said he is doing a bit better, but is still hospitalized and will have a long road to recovery.
Last week, 3News asked a spokesperson with the Ohio Department of Youth Services for statistics on recent assaults at Indian River. They sent the following information:
"As for assaults at Indian River this year, we had a total of 77 by the end of September. For context, that compares to 66 at the end September 2021; 52 at the end of September 2020, and 103 at the end of September 2019, our last full pre-pandemic year. Assaults can range from a shove to more serious incidents."
Previous Reporting:
- State of Ohio addresses concerns at Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility; employees seek new opportunities
- New details emerge from Saturday's barricade incident at Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility
- 'Somebody's going to get killed in that place': Summit County family demands answers after juvenile corrections officer was brutally attacked